The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1887-02-03
THE PLANT BED.
How to Make it and Sow the
Seed.
Some Valuable Hints for New Begin
ners in Tobacco Culture.

Now is the time for sowing tobacco
seed, and those of our farmers who
contemplate raising the weed should
be about this work, and not delay it
until almost time for transplanting in
the spring. In beginning the culture
of tobacco all farmers not thoroughly
skilled in its management are always
ready to learn all they can that will
be to their advantage. Capt. R. B.
Davis, of Hickory, who is a successful
planter and a practical man in every
way, gives the following hints in re-
gard to the preparation and care Of
plant beds:
TO the planter an early and abun-
dant supply Of tobacco plants is the
thing Of prime importance. To secure
this the seed may be sown at any time
between the 18th of December and
the 18th of March, the earlier the
better, and allotting 100 square yards
of seed bed to every 10, 900 plants that
will be needed. The ground selected
for the purpose should be virgin soil,
OF sandy texture rich and moist, with
full exposure to the sun, but sheltered
to the north and west by rising ground
or growing timber, against the cold
winds of early spring. Such spots can
be readily found in wooded hollows,
at the foot of hills, and near to or
alongside some water course. Other
things being equal, the farther into
the woods the spot selected is the bet
ter in order to escape the potato bug.
BURNING THE PLANT BED.
The ground having been we'll
chosen, the next thing is to rake it
cleanly, and then burn it thoroughly
so as to kill all germs of vegetation.
The burning can be at single blast,
if done with dry brush, heaped upon
the entire bed a height of some four
feet. A better but costlier method is
to burn with wood laid upon green
poles, which serves the purpose OF
ventilation, in case the wood should
be piled the whole length of the bed
and at convenient width, say six feet,
and after the pile has been well
kindled, it should be allowed to burn
some two hours, or until the poles un-
derneath are burnt up. The burning
wood and fire Goals should now be
moved by using old hoes fastened
upon long handles, and again spread
at convenient width and fresh wood
added, which should burn until the
ground underneath has been burnt a:
thoroughly as before, and so on until
the entire bed has burnt over. SO soon
as the ground has cooled enough tc
walk upon it, and without removing
| the ashes, it should be broken deepl,
and finely with the mattock, care
being taken not to invert the soil, anC
then chopped with wedding hoe an!
raked until clean of roots and wei
pulverized-for which reason lane
should never be burnt when too wet
SOWING THE SEED.
The bed is now ready for seed
ing. The variety of seed recommend
ed is Yellow Orinoco. The quantlt.
sown should be one and half table
spoontuls to every 100 square yards
and in that exact proportion for eac
fraction or multiple thereof. Grea
care should be taken to SOW the see'
as regularly as possible, SO as 10 pre-
vent some spots from being too thin
and, what is worse, other spots fror
being too thick. To do so the Seet
sh )uld be carefully measured and the
thoroughly mixed in a convenlen
quantity of dry ashes, and the mlxtur
divided in to two equal parts. Th
bed should be marked off into COZ
venient sowing breadths by lines for
feet apart, and sowed entirely owe
with one half the seed and in Oh.
direction, and then over again wit
the other half and in the opposl'
direction, the sower retraclng h
steps. The seed should be left upo
the surface and neither hoed nor rake
into the soil, but trodden in with tt
foot, or pressed in with the back of
, wedding hoe, or better still, by pres
ing light roller over the bed. l
> prevent drifting or pudding of tt
!, seed by washing rains, where Il
ground is rolling, trenches Slight
inclined and two inches deep and fo'
feet apart should be made with Il
lnattock across the bed. Where Il
ground is fat and subject to beir
sobbed, it should be thoroughly dral
ed as nothing draws more easily tn;
the tobacco plant.
For the three fold purpose of warmt
. moisture and fertility, the bed shou
now be top dressed with a Govern
. half inch thick of good stable manu-
broken fine, the fresher the better, b
in any case free of grass seed. VIII
= such stable manure is not conveniel
then from the hen house or hog P